It was 110 years ago today that Chelsea Football Club played their first fixture. Having been formed in March 1905 to grace a purpose-built Stamford Bridge which was then London’s biggest stadium, the new club was elected straight into Division Two of the Football League which at that time was predominantly northern and midlands clubs, and so it was that a squad recruited hastily and expensively during the summer by player-manager John Tait 'Jackie' Robertson boarded Friday night’s 6.05pm train from Euston Station to Manchester. On Saturday 2 September 1905, having made the short journey from their Manchester hotel to the nearby town of Stockport, the new team from the capital, including the eye-catching and well-known figure of goalkeeper William ‘Fatty’ Foulke, walked from the bus to Stockport County’s Edgeley Park. Legend has it that one young local fan warned Foulke, ‘You’ll get licked today mister.’ ‘It’ll be the first time this year then me’lad,’ was the reply from a player who had won the FA Cup twice at Sheffield United and owned an England cap. Edgeley Park was widely regarded as the worst ground in the League and was hardly an auspicious setting for the start of Chelsea’s competitive history. The pitch at the time was described as ‘an almost unbroken expanse of ripe plantation grass in full seed’. The following week’s Chelsea Chronicle, the match programme sold at the first home game, refers to an even and goalless first half. In the second half, the 6ft 4in, 22-stone Foulke was the first Chelsea goalkeeper to save a penalty. ‘His nimbleness was indeed astonishing,’ wrote the Manchester Guardian of the player’s overall performance, but the aftermath of the save was unfortunate for Foulke and his new team-mates. He threw the ball out and according to another match report: ‘It pitched on to one of the numerous lumps and deviated sharply to the right. Foulke took the only course open to him and charged from his goal, but Stockport inside-forward George Dodd reached the ball first, banging it straight at Marshall McEwan, who would have cleared it easily but for the fact that Tommy Miller was knocked into him by a County forward at the same time, and as a result the ball glanced off McEwan’s chest into the net.’ The first goal conceded by the Pensioners is recorded as Dodd’s rather than an own-goal and from that point on Chelsea had the better of the match. Jimmy Windridge hit the post twice and we were denied two penalties, the first when Martin Moran was barged over, the second when a Stockport defender handled on the line, so a Stockport club- record attendance of 7,000 watched the new club lose 1-0 away on debut. .

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